NORFOLK - FINALLY ON THE ICW

 

He Said:  It’s Blog Time.  Hello from Norfolk, Va. We departed as plan on Wednesday in the AM from much talked about Deltaville. The owner of the marina (Costa) dropped by at about 6PM to do our oil change on Tuesday nite.  About 10 ½ gallons, 4 filters, and about 4 hours the job was finished.  He and his wife could not have been any nicer to us.  They were the brightest part of good old Deltaville.

 

Our trip to Norfolk was just as planned.  We arrived about 4PM after about 8 hours of traveling.  This trip was the southern most part of the Chesapeake Bay and was very manageable -  just go south pretty much.  We arrived at Waterside Marina in downtown Norfolk, about 100 yards from Hooters and Joe’s Crab Shack.  The city of Norfolk is very much all about the armed services, mostly Navy.  We heard it has the largest Naval Base in the world.

 

Night view from MTB
 

 

One thing we found out very quick like was that nearly everyone we met was either Coast Guard or some type of government job.  The marina was really cool.  I had to back into our slip and had no problem doing it.  We best not get too full of our shit or the next time I will probably take a dock out but it really is getting easier. We’ve been lucky that the winds were calm along with hardly no current pushing the boat around.

 

Our 5 days here in Norfolk were very much enjoyable -  us desert rats would have enjoyed another 15 or so degrees, but it was still very nice. We were located about 200 yards from a cool park area that had a nice wine deal happening over the week-end.  Norfolk also has cruise ships that come and go.  Twice, at about 6 in the evening, we got to watch the XL Cruisers turn around right behind our boat.  I know they have lots of stuff to make that happen, but it is still amazing watching these monster boats (approx. 3 to 4 football fields long) turn like it is no big deal.

 

Carnival Glory turning in the Elizabeth River in front of MTB
 

 

We of course met some really nice people who were either heading to Florida also or came into town for the Wine Festival.  We also discovered some really cute pubs for happy hour and of course one of us wanted to watch the Buckeyes.  At about kick-off I discovered some young buck with a mask, fins, and a tank.  He was working under the boat next to us.  When he came up, I asked if he was interested in checking out our boat, props, zincs, trim tabs, and all of that other underneath shit.  For 40 smacks he took care of us and even cleaned up a little growth he noticed - good deal for both of us.  He was under the boat for about 10 minutes.  After he left it was nearly half time of the Bucks/Iowa game.  My intention, which usually changes, was to watch the game on the boat.  I figured by halftime it would be pretty much over. That was another bad prediction on my part.  We hopped on the ferry boat and headed to this big sports bar in Portsmouth.  This city is directly across the water about 5 minutes from our boat and only a buck and a half for the ride.  We arrived at Roger Brown’s Tavern at the start of the 3^rd quarter.  We won by 10 but once again had a pretty tuff game.  All I know for sure is the Buckeyes have the longest winning streak in football currently and Urban has yet to lose a game since he came to Columbus.  Enough football, but what a crazy/upset week it was.

 

Our diver
 

 

Hoping to head S on Sunday AM and arrive in Coinjock about 50 miles from Norfolk.  The weather seems to be doing us pretty good. Norfolk is the zero mile marker of the Intra-Coastal Waterway.  It should be fun and in only 1250 miles (and 3 to 4 months) we should arrive in Key West.  Takes us about 4 months to do what most people could do in a plane in about 4 hours - funny how that works.

 

Other than all of the above the boat has been running great and looking forward to the southern part of our journey.  The 24^th of October will be our 5 month anniversary in the boat world.  Plus, one of us will be a year older.  If I could have just one wish it would be that time would slow down -  even a little would be nice.  Hope all is well in your world.

 

Take Care, Jack

 

PS. For those going to Jimmy B. on my BD in Phoenix tell him sorry we didn’t make it to the concert.  He will understand - only been checking him out since 1972.   L8R

 

She Said:  We finally made it.  We’re on the ICW – mile marker 0.5.  It was an uneventful 60 mile trip from Deltaville to Norfolk.  We’ve got a pretty good process in place as we approach our marina to get ready to dock.  We backed in and settled in quickly.  We’re getting really comfortable with the arrival/departure process.

 

Norfolk is very different from anyplace we’ve been on the boat.  Firstly, Norfolk is much larger than anyplace we’ve been – 250,000 people.  Annapolis is about 20% that size, and although Boston is larger we weren’t right in Boston.  There was a Sheraton and Marriott dockside.  Secondly, the marina is right in the middle of town.  There were office buildings, stores and restaurants right at our front door.  Lastly, we are surrounded by people just like us – heading down the ICW.  Although we’ve been around boaters, none were heading south down the ICW.

 

These mermaids, all decorated differently, director visitors to the many Norfolk sights

 

The marina was really busy with transients and local boaters who were in town for the annual Virginia Wine Festival.  We were eager to socialize and meet boaters preparing to start the southern route down the ICW.  We met so many people with so much information it was almost overwhelming.  I think there were even too many people for Jack to talk to.  We learned so much, and people couldn’t be any nicer.  One of our dock neighbors even gave me one of her favorite ICW navigating books to use on our trip. 

 

Norfolk and the surrounding areas are all about Navy.  There are a ton of current and former Navy people.  Up and down the river there are lots of military ships and equipment.  You don’t realize how many people are employed by the armed forces that aren’t overseas and in active combat.  We had a young Navy diver go under our boat.  We’ve been concerned that we might be getting some barnacles attaching to the hull.  He dove under MTB and said everything looked good.  We had a few barnacles attached to a prop which he removed.  One of our zincs is starting to show some wear, but is still in good shape.  We’ll have the bottom looked at again in about 2 months.

 

Busy Norfolk waterfront

We took several walking tours of Norfolk covering the USS Wisconsin and the neighborhood of Ghent, which on the National Registry of Neighborhoods.  We also crossed the river via ferry and visited the town of Portsmouth.  Portsmouth is supposed to have been loyal to the British during the Revolutionary War.  But one of the most amazing things we saw was the Carnival cruise ship Glory.   We’ve been on several cruises so it wasn’t the ship that astounded us, but it was the way it turned around in the relatively narrow river.  The bow of the ship almost came over the docks of our marina.  It was unbelievable.

 

USS Wisconsin

 

Our plan was to leave Norfolk Sunday morning.  We checked the weather Saturday night and it was on the edge.  But we set the alarm and hoped for the best.  We woke up Sunday morning and could hear the wind blowing – not a good sign.  We checked the weather again and decided to stay put for another day.  A lot of people did travel on Sunday, but since it was going to be our first day on the ICW and we didn’t know exactly what to expect so we opted to wait for a better day.  If I’m being perfectly honest with myself, I know that staying put for another day is an easier, wimpier approach.  Heading down the ICW will be something new and different, and it brings challenges we can only imagine.  I’m looking forward to our new adventure and will feel more confident once we get our first day behind us.